Why choose Biocatalysts?

For over 30 years, Biocatalysts has used its wide range of technical, commercial and regulatory capabilities to exceed our customers’ enzyme expectations.

Enzyme Pedigree

When it comes to enzyme production, we’re in a league of our own. There is no other biotechnology company with the same experience or range of capabilities, making us completely unique in the world of enzymes.

Enzyme Pedigree

The 30 year development and manufacturing pedigree we have is unique within industrial enzyme production. Our capabilities are extensive, covering all aspects of the discovery, development and production of enzymes, varying scales of manufacture and product stabilisation, in addition to capabilities that are analytical too.

We’re able to work together with our customers through our ability to solve specific problems, mirror their processes or develop new enzymes. Working closely with our customers is integral to our process due to the technical nature of enzymes, and many customers have been loyal to us for over 15 years.

Whilst some of our larger competitors offer the full service, they’re only interested in high value/high volume projects. However, we focus on speciality enzymes which tend to be of higher value/smaller volume projects. Our aim is to lower the cost of customised enzymes so that they are accessible to all. Ultimately, this sets us apart from these larger competitors.

Product Consistency and Quality

We aim to consistently deliver quality products to our customers and despatch them on time, as this is what our customers tell us is important. Find out how we are able to provide good customer service all year round.

Product Consistency and Quality

Through working closely with our customers and our annual customer satisfaction survey, we’ve learnt that delivery of high quality products and the ability to provide these products on time are a top priority to our customers.

In order to ensure that we always deliver outstanding customer service and the best possible products and services, we use a quality assurance approach. Quality assurance demands a high degree of attention to detail to be fully implemented at every step. All raw materials, products and processes are tightly controlled and reviewed by our Compliance Manager. The goal is to ensure that excellence is inherent in every component of our process, whether it’s routinely supplying a current product or developing a customised enzyme solution.

The processes we follow are underpinned by the following standards:

ISO 9001 Quality Management

ISO 14001 Environmental Management

OHSAS 18001 Health & Safety Management

ISO 22000 Food Safety Management

Due to manufacturing enzymes for food, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, we have a dedicated Food Safety Team who ensure food safety hazards are minimised and other regulations are followed by inspecting, sampling, enforcing and educating within our premises.

At Biocatalysts we also operate a programme of continuous customer and process improvements to maintain our World Class Service reputation for industrial enzyme discovery, development and manufacture. Take for example, our recently introduced bar coding system, which has increased our control of material usage and minimised errors.

Take a look at our below videos. The first one shows our Operations Manager and Production Supervisor talking about how Biocatalysts apply operational excellence to the production of enzymes and the second gives information on how we are able to provide good customer service and deliver quality enzyme products on time, all year round.

People

Our people play an essential role at Biocatalysts. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them. Find out how the people who work for us are our biggest strength and an integral part of the enzymes production process.

People

Our people are experts in their field. However, not only are they knowledgeable and skilled specialists, their attitudes and behaviours fit in perfectly with the company too, which after years of being in business, we believe is important.

To ensure projects run smoothly, the Biocatalysts team are encouraged to talk to customers to exchange information, rather than shy away from them. The friendliness of our people does not go unnoticed. In fact, visitors often comment on the warm atmosphere that is evident at our offices.

Whilst our people fulfil various roles, from production technicians, through to business development managers to the executive board, they each hold the same, strong values.

Our values aim to provide a framework within Biocatalysts, along with a working environment and experience that reflects them. We expect all our people to conduct themselves in a way that is consistent with these values, allowing us to be ‘Best in class’ in everything we do.

We recognise that our people are a vital factor in the efficient and effective operation of our business and in this respect, we recognise and reward them for the way they go about their job and their contribution towards achieving our goals.

We’re a knowledge-based business and our talented people are at the heart of it. They truly make a difference to the running of enzyme discovery, development and production.

Regulatory Knowledge

Whilst you may work with industrial enzymes, that doesn’t mean to say that you know the ins and outs of global enzyme regulations all over the world. However, we do and we’re more than happy to help.

Regulatory Knowledge

Biocatalysts have a wide range of legislative responsibilities, from new and existing government regulations to the kosher and halal certification of Biocatalysts products.

Our team keep on top of all regulatory developments via our membership of AMFEP (the Association of Manufacturers and Formulators of Enzyme Products). We attend all AMFEP meetings and use relevant information for the benefit of our customers. Our aim is to use our extensive experience to ensure that our customers have no regulatory issues with either the use of our enzymes or the manufacture and sale of their products.

Technical & Compliance Director, Andrew Ellis, commented “the ever changing regulatory landscape is challenging and ensuring that our products are designed, from the start, for global shipment, thus reducing potential problems for the customer later, is a pivotal role for my team.”

Obtaining regulatory approval for the country that an enzyme is going to be used in plays a huge role in this process. It can take up to 18 months depending on how and where it is going to be registered. Therefore, starting this process early is essential in ensuring that the routine supply of the enzyme isn’t held up.

We fully support our customers by providing regulatory information and facilitating customer audits, from which we have implemented many small but effective improvements.

Our manufacturing plant has achieved site kosher and halal certification. At Biocatalysts we recognise the critical importance of our products meeting these strict standards as this allows our customers to access new markets for their products.

On June 1st 2007, REACH, a regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals came into force. The vast majority of Biocatalysts’ products are outside the scope of the recent REACH legislation. Food grade enzymes are defined as food stuffs and are therefore exempt. Products used in pet food manufacture are also exempt.

Take a look at this video to find out more about how we produce regulatory compliant enzymes:

One Stop Shop

Biocatalysts is the go-to company when it comes to enzyme production. Whether you wish to choose an off-the-shelf enzyme or develop a novel customised product, we’re the “one stop shop for all your enzyme needs".

One Stop Shop

In 1987, the first Managing Director of Biocatalysts, Tony Godfrey, coined the phrase “One stop shop for all your enzyme needs.”

Here is an article that was published in the early days, using this phrase:

Today, the company still stands by this ethos. Customers are able to choose off-the-shelf enzymes ready to use in their process or commission novel customised enzyme products to undertake specific biochemical transformations.

Customers who want a commercial focus are in the right hands with Biocatalysts; we are able to take them from the discovery stage, right through to routine manufacture, quickly and efficiently (in under 12 months). This is truly beneficial financially as there is no loss of time when moving through the different stages of the project. Instead, the process runs smoothly and is supported by a dedicated team of knowledgeable specialists who will ensure every stage is simple and stress-free.

We have approximately 100 enzymes in our current enzyme product range, which is supported by a back catalogue of around 800 additional enzymes products. These are products that have either been discontinued or made specifically for a customer whose project never came to completion.

Some examples of the enzymes included in this list would be Ferulic Acid Esterase, Secondary Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Lipoxygenase. There are many more, all of which have been developed and produced in-house at Biocatalysts. In fact, we have experience of working with 5 out of the 6 enzymes classes.

A-Z of Capabilities

We use over 80 different capabilities to underpin our work. Take a look at our A-Z of these to discover what we use to best perform and achieve during the enzyme production process.

A-Z of Capabilities

Operating in the industrial biotechnology industry means, by default, we are a high technology company relying on knowledge and capabilities for state-of-the-art methods for enzyme discovery, development and manufacture. So, from a technology perspective, we are very knowledge hungry – we spend a lot of time developing in house technology knowledge for enzyme discovery, development and scale up to manufacture.

There are key capabilities that underpin the work we do. From microbiology through to freeze drying and global shipment, we have over 80 different capabilities that we utilise depending on the type of project we are undertaking.

Before reviewing our capabilities which are listed below, watch this video of out Technical Director, Dr Andrew Ellis, talking about how the development of knowledge and new technical capabilities at Biocatalysts is orientated towards innovating for and benefiting our customers.

Expression Systems: We have extensive experience of cloning enzymes into both proprietary and royalty-free expression systems, with a range of expression hosts and vectors at our disposal. Expression systems are selected based on our customer’s needs or optimum performance.

F

Fermentation and Downstream Processing (DSP) Capabilities: Varying scales of production including lab, pilot and commercial scale.

Freeze Drying (Lyophilisaton): Various scales of freeze drying are available as a finished enzyme product option, either as part of the project or as a “stand-alone” service.

G

GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice): Biocatalysts develop and manufacture enzymes for food, pharmaceutical, healthcare and other industries, therefore we ensure we follow good manufacturing practices to ensure our products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards.

H

Handling of Enzymes: We have been handling enzymes correctly for over 30 years.

I

Intellectual Property Evaluation: We have an awareness of any IP issues relating to enzymes.

R

Regulatory Support: Our dedicated and accessible regulatory team keep abreast of all regulatory developments via our membership of AMFEP (the Association of Manufacturers’ and Formulators of Enzyme Products).

Research Grade Sample Service: A bespoke panel of up to 20 enzymes, discovered from our metagenomic library and suited to individual customer needs, can be provided ready for testing in just 11 weeks.

S

Spray Drying: A well optimised spray drying operation can protect a thermo-labile enzyme from heat-damage. Biocatalysts has laboratory scale spray drying equipment that can demonstrate the suitability of this technology for your product before the product is manufactured at large scale.

T

Technical Feasibility: Our commercially focused approach from concept to routine manufacture of bespoke enzyme products enables us to mitigate risks by developing an enzyme process that is technically and commercially robust.

Technical Support: We have a knowledgeable and experienced team who are accessible to our customers.

U

University Studentships: Biocatalysts are continuously involved in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships which enables us to transfer knowledge from the academic institution and embed this information within our organisation.